1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a book light which is free-standing or attaches to a book cover, a bed frame, or other supporting objects to facilitate the reading of a book or generally provide light where needed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lights for illuminating books, and other lighting accessories are well known in the prior art, but all suffer deficiencies which are cured by the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,340, issued on Jul. 1, 1986 to Jack Dwosh et al., teaches a portable book light having a light source pivotally attached to a casing member containing a battery compartment which can be attached to a book by a somewhat-perpendicular member which has a clip. However, in contrast to the instant invention, the location of the battery compartment results in a heavier weight being suspended above the book, resulting in the possibility of unintended, annoying moving of the light.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,561,744, issued on Jul. 24, 1951 to V. V. Langdon et al., 4.432,042, issued on Feb. 14, 1984 to Noel E. Zeller, 4,581,684, issued on Apr. 8, 1986 to Daniel Mazzucco, Des. 287,412, issued on Dec. 23, 1986 to Mary Fung, and Des. 374,100, issued on Sep. 24, 1996 to Mike Chen, and French Pat. No. 1,207,093, published Feb. 15, 1960, teach book lights and portable lamps in which the lamp is supported by one movable arm, an inherent structural defect.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,280,416, issued on Jan. 18, 1994 to John B. Hartley et al., and 5,442,528, issued on Aug. 15, 1995 to Rudy A. Vandenbelt, and World Intellectual Property Organization Publication No. WO 94/12077, published on Jun. 9, 1994, teach bookmark lights which have light sources supported by a single sliding arm. However, in that all of the above inventions have only one arm, they suffer from the problem of light bounce, i.e. instability. Although perhaps this is not a structural problem insofar as the integrity of the structure is concerned, it is a particular annoyance to the user of the invention to have the light source bouncing about at the slightest movement of the book while one is reading. In addition to the stability deficiency of these prior inventions, it is noted that the lack of two arms or a "U" bracket precludes the instant folding of the head and the body.
Other prior inventions, for example those in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,183,324, issued on Feb. 2, 1993 to Roy Thomas, and 5,379,201, issued on Jan. 3, 1995 to Arthur S. Friedman, teach accessories having a portion for attachment to a belt or a laptop computer and a portion with a light. However, these inventions lack the extension provided by the instant arms or "U" bracket.
An illuminated writing pad is shown in British Patent No. 646,733, published on Nov. 29, 1950. However, a similarity in functionality is the only relationship to the instant invention.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a book light solving the aforementioned problems, particuLarly light bounce, is desired.